Practice balance postures it can help you gain both physical and mental stillness. Specifically, tree pose improves your focus and concentration, while ordering and calming your mind. Its Sanskrit word is Vrksasana (we will pronounce it like this: vrik-sha-sa-na) and it is made up of two parts: “Vrksa”, which means tree “Asana”, which means posture
Just like a tree that needs its trunk and its roots to stand upright and rise towards the sun, the same thing happens with our body: our feet are the roots and our legs are the trunk, they are our firm base with the world, they connect us with the earth and give us the strength to carry out our activities. In this posture, by having to stand on one leg, we are working on concentration and emptying our mind of thoughts.
Benefits of Tree Pose
On a physical level, Tree Pose helps stretch your thighs, groin, torso, and shoulders. It also strengthens the ankles and calves, and stimulates digestion and kidneys. This posture is especially good for correcting flat feet and is recommended in therapies to cure sciatica. Tree pose teaches us the principles of correct movement as it requires optimal alignment and stretching of the body.
On an internal plane, it improves the sense of balance and coordination. Practicing this posture on a daily basis will help you focus and not only in the moment of performing it but also in other areas of your life. If you think you are in an uncertain moment or with many ideas in your head, the tree position helps you to concentrate and thereby calm the mind and bring it back to the present. The result of this pose is to regain your axis when you feel out of balance. This posture has a positive impact on the grace with which you face the circumstances of your life. It instructs you in the discipline to bring calm and focus to your body and to your interior whenever you need to.
How to perform tree pose
1. About you mat, start in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) with your hands at your sides. D istribute all your weight equally across the inner and outer ankles, your toes, and your heels. Feel how your base is rooted in the ground.
2. Transfer all your weight to your left foot. Bend your right knee and reach out to grab your right ankle. Use your hand to draw your right foot toward your left inner thigh. Support your foot above or below the height of your knee. Correct your posture: the center of your pelvis should be directly over your left foot. Align your hips well.
3. Extend your tailbone toward the ground. Join the palms of your hands in prayer position to the chest, with your thumbs on the sternum.
4. Gently fix your gaze on a static point.
5. Feel the firmness of your left leg towards the ground. press your p ie right on your left thigh, and vice versa.
6. Inhale as you extend your arms and reach for the sky with your fingertips. Rotate your palms so that they touch, in a prayer gesture, above your head.
7. Hold in this position for one minute. To undo it, return to mountain pose. Repeat the same with the opposite side.
8. For a more advanced execution, it can be done with the eyes closed.
Performing the tree pose daily will help you gain concentration, focus and coordination, and have a calmer and more orderly mind. This posture connects you with the earth, reconnects you with yourself, and makes you grow with confidence, grace and through light, just like a tree.
